AP - France and Egypt announced an initiative to stop the fighting in Gaza late Tuesday, hours after Israeli mortar shells exploded near a U.N. school sheltering hundreds of people displaced by the onslaught on Hamas militants. At least 30 Palestinians died, staining streets with blood.

AP - Roland Burris failed to capture President-elect Barack Obama's old Senate seat Tuesday in a wild piece of political theater, but the Democrats' opposition cracked when a key chairwoman said seating him was simply the legal thing to do. Democratic leaders, set to meet with Burris on Wednesday, were searching for a way to defuse the dispute before it further overshadows the 111th Congress.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama has approached CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, about becoming the country's next surgeon general, the cable network said Tuesday.

AP - The Capitol rang loud with vows to fix the crisis-ridden economy Tuesday as Congress opened for business at the dawn of a new Democratic era. "We need action and we need action now," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Republicans agreed, and pledged cooperation in Congress as well as with President-elect Barack Obama — to a point.

AP - Former Gov. Jeb Bush announced Tuesday that he won't run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 to replace the retiring Mel Martinez, saying that it was not the right time to return to elected office.

AP - The Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Loch Ness will vie with more than 200 other spectacular places in the next phase of the global competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organizers said Wednesday. The 261 nominees from 222 countries include some of the most famous mountain peaks, lakes, and other attractions, such as the Great Barrier Reef and Niagara Falls.

AP - Patrick Swayze says his yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer put him "through hell" while he pushed ahead on his new TV series. "I've never been one to run from a challenge," Swayze tells ABC's Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview.

AP - Jolene Solomon is beginning the new year with her life, her mule named Lou and little else. The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention.

AP - The Cleveland Indians and free-agent pitcher Carl Pavano, a four-year bust with the New York Yankees because of injuries, agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million contract on Tuesday.

AP - France and Egypt announced an initiative to stop the fighting in Gaza late Tuesday, hours after Israeli mortar shells exploded near a U.N. school sheltering hundreds of people displaced by the onslaught on Hamas militants. At least 30 Palestinians died, staining streets with blood.

AP - The presidents of Egypt and France have proposed a plan to end the escalating Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday.

AP - France's president sought Syrian help Tuesday to bring a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to the United Nations for meetings with Arab and European leaders.

AP - Gunmen have killed a member of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's political party in a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Kirkuk, Iraqi police officials said Tuesday.

AFP - Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said in an interview Wednesday that "we are far from through" the economic downturn, a sign that he will revise his forecast that recovery will begin in mid-2009.

AFP - US oil giant Chevron said Tuesday it had lifted its declaration of "force majeure" or the inability to meet delivery obligations, declared after attacks on its Escravos oil terminal in Nigeria.

AP - Radical conservationists who have been chasing Japanese whalers in the Antarctic Ocean said Wednesday they were heading to Australia to refuel their ship, a day after Japan argued they were pirates who should be barred from refueling.